Can You Just Read My Mind?

Have you ever been frustrated after telling a team member how to do something, only to find them doing it completely wrong even though you thought you were very clear?

Have you ever thought, "It's just easier to do it myself"?

Me too.

I have had anxiety up to my eyeballs trying to get everything done on time, only to find myself going behind people and redoing their work because they didn't understand what I meant. More than once I found myself saying, "Can you just read my mind?" It was meant as a joke to ease the tension, but honestly, if I could have made that happen, I probably would have.

The problem, like it is for many leaders, wasn't that my staff didn't care. It was that I didn't understand how people learn.

In John Maxwell's book Developing the Leaders Around You: How to Help Others Reach Their Full Potential, he explains that studies have shown we remember about 10% of what we hear, 50% of what we see, 70% of what we say, and 90% of what we hear, see, say, and do.

Most of the leaders I talk with get frustrated because they told an employee how to do something, but it was either done incorrectly or never done at all. If people only remember about 10% of what they hear, why do we expect telling someone once to be enough?

We have two food booths at the Alaska State Fair. It is the largest fair in the state and brings in almost 400,000 visitors every year. Because the fair only lasts 14 days, we hire 20 to 25 new employees every season. That means we have a very short window to get people trained and working confidently.

Over the years we developed a five-step training process that takes someone from knowing nothing about a station to being fully trained within just a few hours.

First, we break every job into individual stations. Each station has a specific set of responsibilities.

We tell the new employee how to do each step.

Then we show them.

Next, they do it themselves while someone watches and coaches them.

The final step is the one that makes the biggest difference. We have them teach the station to another employee.

When they teach someone else, two things happen. First, they remember the process much better because they have to explain it in their own words. Second, I get to listen. If they leave something out, I know I need to improve my training. Sometimes they even explain it better than I do, and I learn a better way to teach it the next time.

I can't make people read my mind, but I can become a better communicator.

The next time you're training someone, ask yourself if you've done more than just tell them. Did they hear it? Did they see it? Did they do it? Did they teach it?

If you build all four into your training, you'll spend less time correcting mistakes and more time watching people succeed. And with any luck, you'll find yourself saying, "Can you just read my mind?" a whole lot less.